MyMagic+ article from Fast Company magazine

[wdisney9000]

the immediate reaction of a group of people that think that the author of an article for a well respected publication is on the take because he wrote a piece than ran counter to a narrative that so many have adopted as gospel... That I question.

I dont see where anybody accused him of being on the take. Just a few questions. When did basic questions become crazy? I did see many people praising the article as "well researched" and hailing it as a thorough piece of journalism laying all conspiracies to rest. Thats more laughable than any so called conspiracy theory. Not one example of the myriad of problems that a guest can experience with NGE that did not exist prior, Just stories of dads with tuckered-out babies on their shoulder praising the glory of magic bands or tales of elderly citizens embracing the technology of the new era and thats enough for most people to call it a wrap on the effectiveness of magic bands that (according to the article) will become obsolete in the near future, or at least for Shanghai, because they all have smart phones and we dont?

 

[twebber55]

Seems like self-promotion. Not saying that's bad, but it's hardly altruistic of him to drum up interest in his article.

but why come back and politely answer questions?

 

[PhotoDave219]

And it's not like it's an either/or. The large investment phase of MM+ is now over and we're now seeing a huge investment in new attractions that is likely to continue.

Are we? Outside of Avatar & Disney Springs.... I dont see much of anything new happening or announced.

 

[TalkingHead]

I view it as something that confirms & sums up certain tid-bits I was told and couldn't repeat (internal politics) and really leaves me walking away wondering "So exactly what was the point of doing this in the first place?"

Why are you wondering? The article tells you what the point was:

That’s hardly a sign of failure. Staggs is quietly making a point that’s broader and more important than the carping of employees worried about the future of their project. Moving to a smartphone-based MyMagic+ infrastructure may now be more reflective of the realities of the rapidly changing technology landscape. Perhaps it would be foolish to try to keep up with the Apples and Googles of the world when it comes to wearables.

and

But it ultimately led to a successful conclusion. What Staggs calls "constructive discomfort" is what sophisticated collaboration is all about.

Cost overruns and Orwellian doublespeak are the way of the future, guys!

 

[MiddKid]

First of all, great article.

Second of all, I'm a big believer in MM+ and the benefits extolled in the article after having experienced both 10 months apart.

Family of 5 (kids 10, 7, 4). We live a plane ride away from both DL and WDW. Full disclosure, two summers on the college program years ago in WDW and a few years working in TDA in a professional role. I like to think my work experience there doesn't skew my perception since it was MANY years ago and since then I take my family 1x year purely as tourists. No special perks. Pay full boat.

Anyway, last June we spent 4 days at WDW using MM+. Last week were in DL for 4 days. I was 3 hours into my first day at DL when I texted the attached picture to a friend saying "Man, I sure miss my MagicBand."

- Had to wear a lanyard all 4 days with: Hotel room key, Park Tickets for all 5 members of my family, current FastPasses (at one point I had 15 FPs in there...Fantasmic, current ride, next ride), and my PhotoPass+ card. In WDW all those were replaced by my MagicBand.
- The "runner" role. I used to like it. After using FP+, I now loath it. Especially with Spring Break crowds
- The moment when the kids want FPs to Splash...and we're standing at Autopia. No clue when the "window" will be. I leave my family, walk all the way to the other end of the park, only to find the window is too late for our plans. Time/effort wasted. Missed a character meet and greet with the kids. This running to get a FP only to find out it won't work happened multiple times.
- Wasted FPs. It's not always easy to move a FP+, but at least it's an option. We wasted more than our fair share of FPs when we couldn't get the logistics to work.
- PhotoPass+...so nice to know the pictures were just "there" instead of waiting in line at the photo store after each ride to give them the 6 digit number and hope it got coded right.
- My kids told us ahead of our WDW trip what was really important and we made sure to have FP+s for them. Alleviated the stress. We didn't have to arrive at the Studios 30 minutes before opening to ride TSMM as we knew we could ride at 9:30am. DL still has that "must arrive for Early Entry and/or at park opening" feeling to it. Not easy when you kept a 4 year old out last to see F!
- The stress of "where are the tickets/FPs" Constantly counting to make sure no one dropped one.
- Got drenched on Splash Mtn before I had the tickets in a lanyard. They got wet. Stuck together. Jacked up the barcode on two of them.

Obviously, I could go on.

This is just our real-life example. I know it's painful for locals, but we certainly love it as 1x/year tourists. So in my mind NGE is money well spent. My wife and I agreed that despite us living closer to DL, the MagicBands made us more inclined to return to WDW.

 

[WDW1974]

Lee, I respect you, but very few people would consider that excessive planning. Heck, my wife and I do almost as much planning when we are taking a trip to see relatives. We have to decide how far to travel each day, where to eat, where to stay, etc. Doesn't matter where you go nowadays, a certain amount of planning is necessary. We're different that you in that, we enjoy the planning part as well.

There is no other theme park resort on the planet that requires the amount of planning and knowledge to visit that WDW does. And none require you to book rides months in advance (or less if you won't pay to stay with the Mouse) or wait in artificially long lines. But you know that. ... I think it might actually be worth it if the planning were for TDR ... but WDW?!?! Stale, neglected, hot, bring run like it's going out of business for most of the 21st century WDW?

Um, I don't think so.

 

[twebber55]

First of all, great article.

Second of all, I'm a big believer in MM+ and the benefits extolled in the article after having experienced both 10 months apart.

Family of 5 (kids 10, 7, 4). We live a plane ride away from both DL and WDW. Full disclosure, two years on the college program years ago in WDW and 6 years working in TDA in a professional role. I like to think my work experience there doesn't skew my perception since it was MANY years ago and since then I take my family 1x year purely as tourists. No special perks. Pay full boat.

Anyway, last June we spent 4 days at WDW using MM+. Last week were in DL for 4 days. I was 3 hours into my first day at DL when I texted the attached picture to a friend saying "Man, I sure miss my MagicBand."

- Had to wear a lanyard all 4 days with: Hotel room key, Park Tickets for all 5 members of my family, current FastPasses (at one point I had 15 FPs in there...Fantasmic, current ride, next ride), and my PhotoPass+ card. In WDW all those were replaced by my MagicBand.
- The "runner" role. I used to like it. After using FP+, I now loath it. Especially with Spring Break crowds
- The moment when the kids want FPs to Splash...and we're standing at Autopia. No clue when the "window" will be. I leave my family, walk all the way to the other end of the park, only to find the window is too late for our plans. Time/effort wasted. Missed a character meet and greet with the kids. This running to get a FP only to find out it won't work happened multiple times.
- Wasted FPs. It's not always easy to move a FP+, but at least it's an option. We wasted more than our fair share of FPs when we couldn't get the logistics to work.
- PhotoPass+...so nice to know the pictures were just "there" instead of waiting in line at the photo store after each ride to give them the 6 digit number and hope it got coded right.
- My kids told us ahead of our WDW trip what was really important and we made sure to have FP+s for them. Alleviated the stress. We didn't have to arrive at the Studios 30 minutes before opening to ride TSMM as we knew we could ride at 9:30am. DL still has that "must arrive for Early Entry and/or at park opening" feeling to it. Not easy when you kept a 4 year old out last to see F!
- The stress of "where are the tickets/FPs" Constantly counting to make sure no one dropped one.
- Got drenched on Splash Mtn before I had the tickets in a lanyard. They got wet. Stuck together. Jacked up the barcode on two of them.

Obviously, I could go on.

This is just our real-life example. I know it's painful for locals, but we certainly love it as 1x/year tourists. So in my mind NGE is money well spent. My wife and I agreed that despite us living closer to DL, the MagicBands made us more inclined to return to WDW.

View attachment 89952

pretty much agree..not a huge fan of the planning part when I get there FP + blows the old system away
JMO of course

 

[WDW1974]

Spirit, I do question motivations before I buy 100% into the article. I also judge things in it with knowledge that I've read on this site or that I know from my experience.

I also read the entire article before I decided to comment on it.

Just a question, but are you now 100% sold on the narrative told in that story?

 

[janoimagine]

There is no other theme park resort on the planet that requires the amount of planning and knowledge to visit that WDW does. And none require you to book rides months in advance (or less if you won't pay to stay with the Mouse) or wait in artificially long lines. But you know that. ... I think it might actually be worth it if the planning were for TDR ... but WDW?!?! Stale, neglected, hot, bring run like it's going out of business for most of the 21st century WDW?

Um, I don't think so.

Agree 1000% ... If you love to plan every @nal detail of your vacation ... then MM+ is perfect for you ... but for those of us who like to leave our smartphones in our room safe and not be glued to technology ... were out of luck at Disneyworld ... last trip with the whole family the FP+ reservations replaced the ADR scramble ... vacations should not take this much work or have that much stress.

 

[TalkingHead]

but why come back and politely answer questions?

It's good ethos if nothing else.

 

[BrerJon]

I did have to laugh at the bit about the Imagineer's complaining that Mickey heads on the posts would break the theme - yeah, because a giant Sorcerer's Hat in the middle of Hollywood Boulevard fit perfectly, didn't it! To be charitable, everyone makes mistakes and it's good to hear they've rediscovered the concept of cohesive theming now and are championing it.

 

[WDW1974]

You are missing my point. In order for a restaurant to book out like that, indicates "untapped demand." Demand Disney failed to anticipate. And instead of saying, "whoa, maybe we should look at our existing facilities and see why this is generating such a reaction, and other places aren't, and get to work updating interiors and upgrading menus and facilities, WDW did nothing for 2.5 years, and basically just waited for demand to subside. As if they believed it was "temporary." Only after that period did they decide we need to do something, and changed both the process for eating there, and working on something similar. I imagine when the new Adventureland place opens, it will also be packed to the gills and people will say, "no one could have anticipated" which I claim is BS. Japan has had things like the Queen of Hearts banquet hall for years, and no one at WDW anticipated that something like that could work here. I call that a failure.

It's the same issue I see with dealing with Frozen. The company initially did not have faith in it. The numbers from the November it was released didn't justify adding additional M&G's or expenditures. They waited until the call became too great for even Disney's tone deaf management to ignore, and I believe their failure to act as fast as they should have has cost the company oodles of money. Being "maxed out" is not a sign of health, it indicates a failure to plan, to anticipate, to read the market.

Nailed it.

On both points.

 

[sshindel]

Just a question, but are you now 100% sold on the narrative told in that story?

I'm not 100% sold on any narrative that I have personally not taken part in.
That being said, I believe that there is quite a bit of truth to the article. Do I believe every word out of Staggs mouth is absolute truth (or any quoted person for that matter)? No. But I do believe the overall article as presented was a true narrative given the facts the author found during his reporting.

 

[WDW1974]

I knows what I knows....
The Avatar project began life in 2011.

That is correct, sir,

First brought up in passing in spring, got serious over summer, deal reached and announced in September. Now, OVER four year later we're just seeing significant construction. Disney seems to think its fans are going to live forever, and keep spending time experiencing the same tired product over and over until they get around to building something of substance (such as Pandora).

 

[RSoxNo1]

Disney's costly investments in flashy attractions such as Mission: Space (2003) and Expedition Everest (2006) had proven to be financially disappointing, generating neither the hoped for excitement or revenue.

Attendance increased by 1 million guests after Everest opened. It was a success. Mission: SPACE, not so much.

 

[WDW1974]

His main problem is that his internal "sources" seem to completely disagree with yours on just about every point made in the article. He cannot and will never accept any other version. His is right, and yours is wrong, or so he believes.

Not true. But again, I love how people here (many who live on a certain forum board that I am not on ) know what I am thinking.

See, I could say that you're just happy you found someone has written a story that backs up your World views, so you are happy regardless of the story's merit. But I am not in your head ... (or am I?)

But you do get that just because someone writes something doesn't automatically make it so, right? (in general, not this situation specifically).

 

[RandomPrincess]

Nooooooooooope.

Okay now I neeeeeed to know!

 

[WDW1974]

I thank you for the response, but I also feel that labeling a few basic questions as " next level paranoia" is a bit dubious. I didnt ask you if you think extraterrestrials were in charge of TWDC. Just basic questions to eliminate any confusion.

Considering the fact that of all the chatter and questions in this thread today you have only made 2 posts. One in response to @WDW1974 's post and the other (which was responded to very quickly) was mine, in regards to any questions involving TWDC playing a part in influencing your article. Im sure I will be called a tin foil hat lunatic for thinking that such a rapid response to allegations of misconduct comes across as prepared or anticipated.

Also, I'd like to know why you never actively participated in this community prior to, or during your research? You, or whomever advised you was obviously well aware of this website and the varied opinions within it. Again, I appreciate your response, regardless of what the masses will diagnose me as.

Yes, I sorta wonder why I am so important that my post was answered. But then I realize that, indeed, I am THAT important. ... maybe he was warned about me in advance. Oh wait, that would be tinfoil hat material.

 

[ParentsOf4]

Attendance increased by 1 million guests after Everest opened. It was a success. Mission: SPACE, not so much.

Expedition Everest opened in 2006. By Disney's own 10K statements, WDW attendance increased:

• 5% in 2005 with Per Capita Guest Spending (PCGS) increasing 2%
• 5% in 2006 with PCGS increasing 1%
• 6% in 2007 with PCGS increasing 3%

Attendance was rebounding after the post-9/11 recession, with Disney offering discounts and the cheaper Magic Your Way tickets, resulting in very little growth in PCGS. (Only the recession year of 2009 had lower PCGS growth.) Expedition Everest had little to do with attendance gains. Certainly it was not a revenue driver.

 

[xdan0920]

Yes, I sorta wonder why I am so important that my post was answered. But then I realize that, indeed, I am THAT important. ... maybe he was warned about me in advance. Oh wait, that would be tinfoil hat material.

It may have something to do with the fact that Wdisney9000 and yourself asked him pointed questions about wether his work was on the up and up, I think.

He did answer other questions as well, so it's not just you two.